April 30, 2007

Voluptuousness

Very interesting discussion on Wired, a multi media success in the US. Wired is a magazine, a website, a blog, Wired is paper, digital and mobile content, Wired is much more than is used to be, a magazine about computers,Internet, technology. For instance; an article about sex, Is 'Internet Normal' the New 'Sex Normal'?

A lot of my fellow countrymen over here in The Netherlands not only think, but they know for sure that most Americans are very puritanical people. Like our Christian Historic party, that's against most forms of too visible parts, of too much body. Dutch people don't see that one can also see The United States as fifty different countries, with a lot of different people, cultures and idea's.

in Dutch at @ BN/DeStem

Wired is most read in California, and New York; Wired is from progressive America.

The big question in the column, part of the Friday series 'Sex Drive' was if Regina Lynn, and the producers and listeners to a Playboy radio interview we would allow their children to be in a class with a teacher if they knew that teacher was into heavy BDSM, including cutting or "hanging by his skin."

Lynn said yes: the teacher shouldn't discuss his sex life with students; a teacher is not a student's friend or peer. But having a sex life, whether it is 100 percent vanilla or kinkier than even I want to think about, is every adults right.

Host Tiffany Granath and her producers were more cautious. They said if they didn't share the teacher's proclivities and weren't in the same scene, the only way they would learn about his behavior is if he wasn't discreet enough. And in that case, the kids could find out. And that would apparently be bad.

An interesting stalemate, bogging down into a discussion about what's normal and what not. Inevitable in every discussion where (child)porn is not allowed, because in every case somebody has to define if rules or regulations are exceeded.

(According to bestselling American author and Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry: The big problem with pornography is defining it. You can't just say it's pictures of people naked. For example, you have these primitive African tribes that exist by chasing the wildebeest on foot, and they have to go around largely naked, because, as the old tribal saying goes: "N'wam k'honi soit qui mali," which means, "If you think you can catch a wildebeest in this climate and wear clothes at the same time, then I have some beach front property in the desert region of Northern Mali that you may be interested in."So it's not considered pornographic when National Geographic publishes color photographs of these people hunting the wildebeest naked, or pounding one rock onto another rock for some primitive reason naked, or whatever. But if National Geographic were to publish an article entitled "The Girls of the California Junior College System Hunt the Wildebeest Naked," some people would call it pornography. But others would not. And still others, such as the Spectacularly Rev. Jerry Falwell, would get upset about seeing the wildebeest naked.)

Like Dutch Christian Historic Union Leader André Rouvoet and his party members, who think that a nice and clean girl in a golden Hönkemuller bikini is out of bounds, while most Dutch passers by don't even bother to look at the billboard in question.

One step further is another billboard, on which a bit more fatal girl is ready to throw her black bra in your face. I don't mind this one too, but I'm asking myself where and when I will reach my personal turning point

When the voluptuous trend in these adds keeps rising, the time will come that I agree with Rouvoet. That uncomfortable thought worries me the most.

 Posted: April 30, 2007, 12:44 PM | Comments (1) |

April 24, 2007

Bit stupid

They're the kind of discussions I always to steer away from at birthday parties or at the bar in the local pub: about the police or the lovely Rita's (the meter maids). You know, peoplecomplain ing about getting a ticket for a red light that was green, about parking tickets, whatever, and it's never their own fault. Such a waste of time.

I dislike them even more because ever so often I'm the only who says no nagging or whining please. Who says that the world would be a much better place it half thepopulation obeyed some rules, while the other half stops complaining about the fact that rules are made to be observed to begin with.

Having said that: to err is human, so I had to pay twenty dollars - twice - because of minor speeding on the A16 between Breda and Rotterdam. For two reasons a bit stupid. First, because I didn't see the black Volvo parked on the soft verge on the roadside.

The second reason is even more stupid and those who don't want to understand, should fulfill an apprenticeship for one day in a hospital where they're trying to rebuild the wrecked bodies - and minds - of those who were victim of their own speeding, or got hit by someone else.

I've had it with the stupid reactions at pub and birthday parties, when I try to explain so. I've had it with the guys who raise an eyebrow: 'tsssk, I didn't know you were such a right winger'.

Do I have nothing to complain about policeman or meter maid?

Well, just one little problem, that probably will be solved when someone at city hall reads the Dutch Version of this column. In July 2004 I've posted a notice of objection, when I received a parking ticket for reasons unclear to me. I've got no idea what City Hall sees a normal term for a procedure like this, but 30 months later I'm still waiting for an answer. Maybe a bit stupid, but not my own fault.

 Posted: April 24, 2007, 12:17 PM | Comments (0) |

April 13, 2007

I can fly!

Don't you think that's exactly what this young blackbird is trying to tell me? The four of them flew out this morning, and both parents were attacking my head when I shot this picture. I caught a glimpse of one of the others in the shed, ducking under some garbage, the remaining two should be around somewhere.

Like last year, the crows and the magpies are searching the neighbourhood for fresh tucker, but as these youngsters are much bigger than the doomed nest from last year, their chances of surviving look pretty good.

 Posted: April 13, 2007, 01:33 PM | Comments (0) |

April 10, 2007

Early spring

It looks like an early spring over here in Holland. It's april 10 and those four young blackbirds in our back garden look like they're ready to jump out of the nest any moment. The nest is build on exactly the same spot in the hedge, like each year since we're living here, but I doubt the first nest of the season has been this early before. Last year was a bad one, as two out of five died in the first week, and the three survivors left the nest too early, only to fell prey to the magpies.

 Posted: April 10, 2007, 02:02 PM | Comments (0) |